Cyberattack on Danfoss Systems Spoils Food in 700 French Stores
Hackers exploited Danfoss refrigeration software to raise temperatures in hundreds of French supermarkets, causing widespread food spoilage and fires across Europe.
A large-scale cyberattack between October 11 and 12, 2026, crippled refrigeration systems in hundreds of supermarkets across France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Attackers remotely accessed control modules to trigger continuous defrost cycles, raising temperatures to 50 degrees Celsius. This caused tonnes of fresh and frozen food to spoil and sparked small fires at several locations. Finance Minister Roland Lescure reported that approximately 700 of France's 10,000 supermarkets were affected, including chains such as Intermarché, Carrefour, Monoprix, and Coopérative U.
France's National Cybersecurity Agency (ANSSI) identified the vulnerability in software provided by Danish manufacturer Danfoss. Danfoss confirmed that the affected units were running outdated firmware and legacy systems. Intermarché CEO Thierry Cotillard estimated nationwide losses in the tens of millions of euros for a single day. Similar disruptions were reported in Spain, Portugal, Poland, and Germany. Simultaneously, Dutch retailer Ahold Delhaize shut down websites for brands including Albert Heijn and Stop & Shop due to a separate security issue, though the company denied a link to the French attacks.
European Commissioner Christophe Hansen condemned the incident as the weaponization of food. Cybersecurity experts warned that the breach highlights the vulnerability of connected industrial infrastructure, noting that hackers no longer need access to point-of-sale systems to cause significant operational havoc. The Paris Prosecutor's Office has opened an investigation to identify the perpetrators, though no group has claimed responsibility.
